Skyscraper Boom: A Contributing Factor to Homelessness?

In recent years, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Almost 20,764 single adults slept in shelters each night. Same is the case with Pakistan. It is a significant issue in Pakistan, as the country struggles with a lack of affordable housing and a growing population. According to estimates, there are around 2.5 million homeless people in Pakistan, many of whom live on the streets or in informal settlements.

One of the main drivers of homelessness in Pakistan is the high cost of real estate. The country's real estate market has boomed in recent years, with property prices skyrocketing in major cities such as Karachi and Lahore. This has made it increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens to afford a home, leading to a rise in homelessness.

WIth an increase in population and inflation, the prices of houses are rising and people are unable to afford housing. 

In a similar vein, a girl named Andi Schmied completed a case study regarding the skyscrapers in New York. She pretended to be a billionaire in order to obtain the most exclusive residences in New York. 

She talked to the Real Estate Builders in New York, They said, 

“We are not just selling a building. The reason why people are living here is because of the lifestyle we are offering.” 

These people are only one percent of the one percent. The cheapest property she had been to was $10 million, and the most expensive was $85 million. Andi Schmied says, they manipulate the cities to the disadvantage of everyone else in the cities. She got this idea when she visited the Empire State Building and saw the views. She got curious about what the view from those buildings looked like. That's why she started to work on her book and her project. She chose 25 exclusive buildings which were luxury towers. Her goal was to show those views that are considered to be the best views you can privately own in New York. First, she wanted to photograph the views for her book. With time it became something bizarre and crazy for her.

She found out the only way to get in those buildings was to pretend to be a billionaire who was searching for an apartment. She contacted the real estate agents and other agencies to find a penthouse and became Gabriella, a billionaire. Daniel Rosenstein, a real estate agent, met Andi when she was infiltrating New York's most exclusive properties. She got help from him as it was not a real estate market.  She essentially created her own persona as Gabriella in order to get the penthouse.  She visited the Empire State Building and other real estate agents to check out the prices and the many other things needed to get a house.  

She found out that the ultra-luxury segment of the real estate was not going really well. There were different types of agents. There were ones who were very natural and just showed you the apartment. And there was the complete other end of the spectrum. Because the ultra-luxury segment of real estate was not really going well. The newer the development, the crazier the amenities they had because there was a huge competition in the real estate world. One of the things that became an absolute standard for these buildings was the golf simulator room, Michelin-starred private restaurant in the building, theatre, and swimming pool etc. They had a children's playroom, a billiards room, a conference room, and everything in between.

In one of the penthouses, they would give you a yacht as a present when you buy the apartment. While, on the other hand, a number of people are living in poverty. If we talk about the average rent across the city, it's around $3,160 to $7,250. Actually, it has returned to nearly pre-pandemic levels.

These apartments and buildings are standing 60-70 percent empty and on the other hand many people are homeless there. Commercial and residential wonderland featuring some of the city's tallest buildings and most expensive restaurants and condos. If you are looking to call the Steinway Tower home, the studio starts at $7.7 million.  If we talk about those buildings and their residency, they are soulless. They are super standardized. One of the most striking things was how agents were trying to always go out of their way. A lot of these Billionaires' Row towers are investments for overseas and local people, so they'll rent them out or they'll just own them, have them, sit empty for a number of years and resell them.

So, what does it indicate? Are buildings sitting empty? 

There's a trickle down effect, so once the hyper expensive properties become even more expensive, it raises the value of everything else beneath it. One of the very big problems of these buildings, they are sometimes casting hundreds and hundreds of meters of shadows, for example, over Central Park or over other people's up until then sunny living rooms, or over the streets. And so, somehow, these buildings that are not even lived in are taking away such natural things from the rest of the city as sunlight.

We can clearly see the obscene differences in society where the huge buildings are empty and waiting for the billionaires to come. While hundreds of people are homeless over there.